Definitions:
smart battery: A battery equipped with specialized hardware that provides present state, calculated and predicted information to a battery charger or a SM bus Host under software control. As used herein, the term "smart battery" refers to any type of battery which contains circuitry to determine and communicate information/data related to a condition of the battery to an external circuit. PA1 smart battery charger: A battery charger that periodically communicates with a smart battery and alters its charging characteristics in response to information provided by the smart battery. PA1 SM bus: The System Management Bus is a specific implementation of an inter-integrated circuit (I.sup.2 C) bus that describes data protocols, device addresses and additional electrical requirements, designed to physically transport commands and information between the smart battery, SM bus Host, smart battery charger and other smart Devices. PA1 SM bus Host: A piece of portable electronic equipment, such as a lap-top or notebook computer, powered by a smart battery. It is able to communicate with the smart battery and use information provided by the battery. PA1 Status Condition: A condition related to a smart battery which includes, but is not limited to: percentage (%) charge, time remaining to fully charge, maximum current amplitude to charge, maximum voltage amplitude to charge, and the duration of time the battery is able to supply power to a device at a specified power consumption rate. PA1 To allow smart batteries to be charged as rapidly and as safely as possible PA1 To allow new and different battery technologies to be used in existing equipment PA1 To allow access to the "correct" charger algorithm for the battery PA1 To allow the user to know the smart battery's remaining life PA1 To tell the user how long it will take to charge the smart battery PA1 To allow smart batteries to provide accurate information to their user PA1 To determine the laptop computer's real-time power requirements PA1 To enable power management based on "real" information supplied by the battery PA1 To enable battery manufacturers to collect information about a smart battery's usage